Texas Rangers Free Agent Jordan Montgomery Prefers Return to Previous Teams
The Texas Rangers would love to retain one of their top free agents, pitcher Jordan Montgomery.
It sounds like Montgomery is opening to staying — but there's competition.
The New York Post reported that while Montgomery has put values on certain teams while seeking a big contract in free agency:
Montgomery is believed to prefer a return to Texas to St. Louis or The Bronx, his previous stops.
That, of course, narrows Montgomery’s choices to three teams — the Rangers, St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees.
Montgomery broke in with the Yankees. New York traded him to the Cardinals during their run to the playoffs in 2022. The Cardinals then turned around and traded him, along with reliever Chris Stratton, to the Rangers at this year’s trade deadline.
For Montgomery and Stratton, that worked out well. The pair contributed to the Rangers’ World Series title.
Montgomery also helped his free-agent prospects in the process.
The Athletic predicted Montgomery could fetch a five-year, $127 million deal in free agency. Sports Illustrated projected Montgomery would end up with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Montgomery is coming off his best season. He was 10-11 with a 3.20 ERA with 166 strikeouts and 48 walks. He was 4-2 with a 2.79 ERA for the Rangers.
He shined in the postseason, going 3-1 with a 2.90 ERA. He earned the win in relief in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros. His start in ALCS Game 1 is likely to become the stuff of Rangers legend, especially his handling of Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez, whom he struck out three consecutive times.
The Rangers have more than $100 million committed to starting pitching in 2024. Jacob deGrom, who won’t be ready for the start of the 2024 season, is owed $40 million of that. Max Scherzer accounts for $22.5 million. Nathan Eovaldi will make $17 million. Andrew Heaney exercised a $13 million player option. Jon Gray is set to make $13 million.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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